Skate Park Riders Display Courage, Work Ethic

Ask her six years ago, and Juni Pierce wouldn't have guessed where her next step in life would take her.

The retired Nashua gym teacher – who has also taught in at least a handful of countries overseas – answered an ad in the paper six years ago looking for an attendant to oversee the Merrimack Skate Park on O'Gara Drive and more than half a decade later, if you're looking for Pierce in the afternoon or evening on any given day, you can find her on O'Gara Drive.

Half an hour speaking with Pierce you can tell she clearly loves her part-time, post-retirement job. The way she speaks of the kids she gets to know year in and year out at the skate park, you'd think she was speaking of her own grandchildren.

“The skate park kids are an incredible group of kids,” Pierce said. “But no one knows it. They've got incredible work ethic, incredible discipline. They're courageous. You see them fall, sometimes they fall hard, and they get back up. They're out here the next day working at it again.”

While it hasn't always been flowers and rainbows, Pierce has seen the potential and good in these kids, even in the difficult years.

The first two years of Pierce's job as the skateboard park attendant were nothing short of miserable, she said. The kids and teens there were unused to having supervision while they were out there. The language was terrible, kids would spit all over the place and leave trash lying around. But Pierce was there to put a stop to that and they hated it.

“In the beginning, most of them couldn't stand me,” Pierce said.

After the first year or two, the park was almost shut down, it seemed that attitudes weren't getting better, the vandalism and regular disrespect at the park was overwhelming. But Pierce said she begged the Town Council to give it a little more time, and it paid off.

By year three, the kids were slowly getting it. If it didn't change, the skate park would be a thing of the past.

“Year three was OK, but still not great,” Pierce said. “The fourth year was better and the last two years have been great.”

Pierce said the returning riders know what to expect and new riders have positive examples to follow instead of negative ones.

On Friday afternoon, about a half dozen riders were riding the ramps and rails, trying out tricks and socializing with their friends. Pierce knew each of their names and could tell a story about each of them.

Chris is knew to town, he moved here from Florida with his dad and from what she can tell, he's a pretty nice kid. Corey took a big spill on Thursday, but he was back on Friday ready for another go, Pierce said.

Tyler is not only one of the nicest kids you'll ever meet, Pierce said, but he's also brilliant.

“I make a point of getting to know the kids by name and learning more about them,” Pierce said. “They all have a story to tell.”

Pierce added that she also makes a point of saying hello and goodbye to the kids as they come and go. She chats with them while they are taking a break and asks them about their days. For some of the kids that come to the skate park during the six and a half months its open, the conversations they have with Pierce are the most they'll have with an adult that day.

Rather than go home to an empty house, Pierce said they come to the skate park and work hard at something they love.

“The skate park kids get a bad rap,” Pierce said. “But these are some of the hardest working kids out here. They get discriminated against. People think they're bums. But they're wrong. Discrimination is a combination of fear and lack of education and they don't know these kids.”

Pierce said one of the things she loves is how they embrace each other, especially when they older kids work with the younger kids. If she asked one of them, one of teens or young adults at the park would work with a younger kid on getting a trick down, or work on technique.

And it's not just Merrimack kids that come to the park. Given the reputation the park has earned as being clean, safe and a respectful place to go, she sees people from Nashua, Hudson, Concord, Milford, Goffstown, Keene, Manchester and more.

She credits the Town Council and especially the Merrimack Parks and Recreation Department, which oversees the park, for helping make it a better place, a place for families. Their support has helped it improve year after year.

A couple years into this experiment with skate park attendants (a second attendant will be joining Pierce in June so she isn't working six days a week from 2-8 p.m.) Pierce grew tired of the kids complaining that the equipment was old and tired. New equipment would be awesome, they said.

So with the blessing of Parks and Rec and the Council, she started collecting spare change from the parents who would park and watch their kids, or drop them off and pick them back up later. She'd go car to car asking for change to put in a skate park improvement fund. The town created the fund and she raised $1,200 in three months collecting change.

“I didn't like it. It wasn't my idea of fun, but I thought it was a good cause, and I still do,” Pierce said.

That money is still waiting to be put to use however, because it was a two part agreement. She raised the $1,200 and the kids were on the hook for raising another $3,800. Once there was $5,000 in the account, it would be spent for new boxes, rails, ramps or whatever.

“They haven't raised a dime,” Pierce said. “But they've also stopped complaining.”

She said she's given them plenty of suggestions for ways to raise some money, but they've yet to mobilize.

Taking a break from their bikes, Corey Chamberland, 15, Chris Puglisi, 16, and Hayden Krisiak, 16, all of Merrimack, said they ride at the park pretty much every day from April to October. They'd been there about every day of vacation – the park opened just in time for the April break.

Krisiak said they appreciate Pierce's presence (most of the time) and he likes that Pierce helps make others see that they aren't bad people.

Tyer Sandstrum, 15, and Noah Roy, 16, both of Merrimack, said in between rides that they too appreciate Pierce's presence, for helping keep the park clean and for helping keep it a place where people don't spend their time fighting.

The Merrimack Skate Park is open daily except for Wednesday.

Hours during the school year are:

• Sunday: 2-6:30 p.m.
• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 3-6:30 p.m.
• Friday: 3-8 p.m., or sunset if before 8 p.m.
• Saturday: 2-8 p.m., or sunset if before 8 p.m.